Welcome to the Hellmouth
"Welcome to the Hellmouth" is the series premiere of the supernatural drama television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This episode and "The Harvest" were originally aired as a two-part series premiere on The WB on March 10, 1997. The episode was written by the series creator and executive producer Joss Whedon, and directed by Charles Martin Smith. "Welcome to the Hellmouth" received a Nielsen rating of 3.4 upon its original airing and received largely positive reviews from critics. The narrative follows Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) on her first day at a new school in a new town. She hopes to live as a normal teenager, but the duties and fate of the Slayer – to fight vampires, demons, witches and other supernatural beings – will not leave her alone; the ancient vampire the Master (Mark Metcalf) threatens to break free, and Buffy must turn for help to her school librarian and Watcher Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), her new classmates, Willow and Xander (Alyson Hannigan and Nicholas Brendon), and a benevolent stranger named Angel (David Boreanaz). Joss Whedon developed Buffy the Vampire Slayer to invert the Hollywood formula of "the little blonde girl who goes into a dark alley and gets killed in every horror movie." The series was created after the 1992 film of the same name, in an attempt by Whedon to stay truer to his original ideas. Many scenes were filmed on location in Los Angeles, California. The high school used for external and some internal scenes in the series is Torrance High School, the same school used for the series Beverly Hills, 90210. Summary A boy breaks a window at Sunnydale High School at night and crawls in, followed by a seemingly reluctant girl. The girl hears an unidentified sound and fears something is there. The boy calls out but gets no response. When the girl is satisfied they are alone, her face morphs into that of a vampire, and she bites the boy. The girl, as it’ll later be revealed, is Darla. Buffy has a nightmare the morning of her first day of school. Her mother, Joyce, drives her to the school and encourages her to think positive. Inside the building, Principal Flutie tells her she will start with a clean slate. He reconsiders that after realizing that Buffy burned down her previous school’s gym because “it was full of vampi– …asbestos.” Buffy exits the office and bumps into another student, spilling the contents of her purse over the floor. Xander sees that and helps Buffy, introducing himself. She leaves without her stake, which Xander pockets because he called out to her, but she had already walked away. In history class, Buffy is helped by Cordelia, who afterward tests her “coolness factor”, allowing Buffy skipping the written as Buffy had just moved to Sunnydale, California from Los Angeles. To Buffy’s horror, Cordelia humiliates an awkward Willow at the water fountain. Inside the library, Mr. Giles places a book titled Vampyr in front of Buffy after realizing who she was. A stunned Buffy makes a hasty exit. Buffy, Willow, Jesse, and Xander meet during a break, and Xander returns the stake. Buffy claims it’s standard self-defense in Los Angeles. Cordelia appeared and told Buffy she won’t get to meet Coach Foster because gym class was canceled “due to the extreme dead guy” in Aura’s locker. Buffy asks whether there were marks on the body, freaking out Cordelia. Buffy forces her way into the locker room, examines the body, and finds the characteristic puncture wounds of a vampire on the neck. Buffy returns to the library and confronts Giles, who informs her that he is her Watcher. Buffy refuses to accept her calling as a Slayer since it had gotten her expelled from her previous school and cost her social life. After they leave the library, Xander emerges from behind the shelves, having overheard the strange conversation. That night, en route to her first visit to The Bronze, the cool hangout in Sunnydale, Buffy is followed by a mysterious man. Feeling threatened, she knocks him down. However, the handsome stranger assures her that he doesn’t bite and she releases him. He warns her that she is living on a Hellmouth which is about to open and that the Harvest is coming. He also gives her a large silver cross. It isn’t revealed until the next day that the stranger’s name is Angel. In The Bronze, Buffy meets Willow and encourages her to seize the moment because tomorrow she might be dead. She finds Giles and tells him about Angel. Giles tells her to learn to hone her skills to sense vampires anywhere. Buffy uses her fashion sense to pick out a vampire in the club and is alarmed to see Willow leaves with him. She loses them and is surprised by Cordelia, nearly staking her. Cordelia immediately calls her friends to tell them about it. While Buffy looks for Willow, Jesse chats up Darla at The Bronze. Buffy is stopped by Xander, who doesn’t believe in vampires and makes fun of her. In the end, she manages to convince him to help search for Willow. Meanwhile, under the streets of Sunnydale, the Master is woken by lesser vampires from a long sleep to prepare for the Harvest. He sends Luke to fetch young blood. Willow’s new acquaintance takes her to a crypt in a cemetery, where they are joined by Darla and Jesse, whom she has bitten. Buffy and Xander arrive. Buffy kills Willow’s vampire. Xander and Willow help Jesse, who has been weakened, flee. Luke takes Darla’s place in the fight so she can help catch the kids. Luke throws Buffy in a stone coffin and is about to move in for the kill. Continuity *Buffy’s prophetic dream features glimpses of several climatic events of the season, including her confrontation with the Master in "Prophecy Girl", as well as scenes from episodes "The Harvest", "The Puppet Show", and "I Robot, You Jane". *Joyce drops Buffy off at school and tells her: “Try not to get kicked out.” Buffy promises in agreement but eventually does get expelled ("Becoming, Part One"). *Giles and Principal Flutie mention Buffy’s time in Los Angeles, fighting vampires and burning down the school gym; these events are shown in comic miniseries "The Origin". *Cordelia states she would like to live in Los Angeles; she moves there after graduation ("City of"). *The girl who finds the dead boy in her locker is Cordelia’s friend Aura. She recurs in "Rm w/a Vu", talking to Cordelia on the phone. *Angel gives a cross necklace to Buffy, he’ll continue to gift her with his coat ("Teacher’s Pet") and a Claddagh ring ("Surprise"). *Buffy expresses that she “really didn’t like” Angel, though she later ended up falling in love with him and starting an on and off relationship. *Angel will be revealed to be a vampire sired by Darla 200 years ago ("Angel"). Appearances Individuals *Angel *Aphrodesia *Aura *Blue *Chris Boal *Cordelia Chase *Mrs. Chase *Darla *Robert Flutie *Rupert Giles *Alexander Harris *Luke *The Master *Jesse McNally *Sheila Rosenberg *Willow Rosenberg *Steve *Buffy Summers *Joyce Summers *Thomas Organizations and titles *Cordettes *Order of Aurelius *Scooby Gang *Slayer *Sprung Monkey *Watcher Species *Demon **Incubus **Succubus *Human *Vampire *Werewolf *Zombie Events *Battle of the Harvest Locations *Los Angeles *Sunnydale **The Bronze **The Church (Order of Aurelius) **The Gallery **Hellmouth **Sunnydale Cemetery **Summers’ residence **Sunnydale High School ***Sunnydale High School library Weapons and objects *Buffy Summers’ cross necklace *Slayer Handbook *Stake *Summers’ Jeep Rituals and spells *Harvest Death count *Chris Boal, drained by Darla at Sunnydale High School. *Thomas, staked by Buffy Summers in a mausoleum. Behind the scenes Production *The script for the episode was written on August 26, 1996. Six revisions were made following this, with the last being January 17, 1997. *The scene with Buffy and Giles at The Bronze was Anthony Stewart Head’s audition scene. *The Master’s real name was never mentioned on screen, but, in the shooting script for the episode, he was named Heinrich Joseph Nest, and was also said to have been six hundred years old."Buffy and Angel: The Ultimate DVD Collection Magazine," 2008. *The Master’s look originally featured a beard and long hair before actor Mark Metcalf suggested the bald look as a homage to Nosferatu. *The Master was originally supposed to rise from a pool of blood and be covered with the blood for the entire episode; this was abandoned after being discovered to be too difficult to create. *Certain scenes, such as the argument between Giles and Buffy in the library, and Buffy’s first meeting with Angel, were re-shot eight months after the first episode was filmed. Joss Whedon decided to make Buffy less angry and more vulnerable, much to Sarah Michelle Gellar’s dismay. Whedon jokingly teased her they were going to re-shoot the scenes a third time. *The scene where Angel warns Buffy about the Harvest was David Boreanaz’s audition scene. According to Boreanaz, it was shot at two in the morning in “some god awful street.”Keith Topping, "The Complete Slayer". Virgin Books, December 01, 2004. Broadcast *On the original airing of this episode, The WB provided a teaser briefing the history of past Slayers, known as History of the Slayer. It revealed horrific events in towns that were halted when a particular woman arrived. This teaser, however, does not appear in syndication or on DVD.Nikki Stafford, "Bite me!: Sarah Michelle Gellar and Buffy the Vampire Slayer". ECW Press, June 08, 1998. *Creator Joss Whedon hoped to include actor Eric Balfour in the title credits to shock viewers when his character dies. Unfortunately, the show could not afford the extra set of title credits at the time. However, Whedon’s wish was granted in season six ("Seeing Red") with Amber Benson’s character, Tara Maclay.Joss Whedon's audio commentary for the episode "Welcome to the Hellmouth", The Complete First Season Region 1 DVD. *The episode received a Nielsen rating of 3.4 upon its original airing."Nielsen Ratings for Buffy's First Season".Archived from the original July 05, 2008. Deleted scenes *This exchange was cut because of length:Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder, "The Watcher's Guide, Volume One". Pocket Books, October 01, 1998. :Mr. Flutie: "Oh! Buffy! Uh, what do you want?" :Buffy: "Um, is there a guy in there that’s dead?" :Mr. Flutie: "Where did you hear that? Okay. Yes. But he’s not a student! Not currently." :Buffy: "Do you know how he died?" :Mr. Flutie: "What?" :Buffy: "I mean - how could this have happened?" :Mr. Flutie: "Well, that’s for the police to determine when they get here. But this structure is safe, we have inspectors, and I think there’s no grounds for a lawsuit." :Buffy: "Was there a lot of blood? Was there any blood?" :Mr. Flutie: "I would think you wouldn’t want to involve yourself in this kind of thing." :Buffy: "I don’t. Could I just take a peek?" :Mr. Flutie: "Unless you already are involved…" :Buffy: "Never mind." :Mr. Flutie: "Buffy, I understand this is confusing. You’re probably feeling a lot right now. You should share those feelings. With someone else." Pop culture references *Cordelia mentions the American actor James Spader. *Cordelia mocks Willow’s outfit saying, "Good to know you’ve seen the softer side of Sears" in reference to the well-known commercial jingle. *John Tesh, an American television and radio presenter, and now a lifestyle guru, is also mentioned. *Buffy speaks of DeBarge, a 1980s pop group. *When storming The Bronze, Buffy references The Wild Bunch, a 1969 Western where all the remaining characters are killed in the final shootout. *When meeting Angel for the first time, Buffy references Turtle Wax, a product commonly given away as a consolation prize on many TV game shows. Goofs, bloopers & continuity errors *When Angel meets Buffy, he says that he thought she’d be taller, implying that he’d never seen her before. Later, in "Becoming, Part One", we see a flashback of Angel watching Buffy from afar, proving this wrong (or a deceitful statement). Angel also mentions the sighting to Buffy in "Helpless". *In the first classroom scene where Buffy shares Cordelia’s textbook, the teacher asks them to turn to page 63, but Cordelia turns to somewhere near the beginning of the book. *In the scene where Buffy and Willow first talk, Buffy’s hair moves back and forth behind and in front of her ear. *The spines on the stack of books change from showing to not showing as Buffy and Giles hand them to each other in the library. Music *Dave Aragon — "No Heroes" (when Joyce drives Buffy to school) *Sprung Monkey — "Saturated" (as Buffy tries to decide what to wear to The Bronze) *Sprung Monkey — "Believe" (as Buffy arrives at The Bronze) *Sprung Monkey — "Swirl" (while Jesse talks to Cordelia and then Darla at The Bronze) *Sprung Monkey — "Things Are Changing" (while Buffy talks to Xander outside The Bronze while looking for Willow) *Mindtribe — "Losing Ground" *Walter Murphy — original score International titles *'Finnish:' "Ystäviä ja paholaisia osa 1" (Friends and Demons Part 1) *'French:' "Bienvenue à Sunnydale, partie 1" (Welcome to Sunnydale, Part 1) *'German:' "Das Zentrum des Bösen" (The Center of Evil) *'Icelandic:' "Velkomin til Vítismunnsins" (Welcome to the Hellmouth) *'Italian:' "Benvenuti al College" (Welcome to School) *'Portuguese (Brazil):' "Bem Vinda à Boca do Inferno" (Welcome to the Hellmouth) *'Spanish (Latin America and Spain):' "La Cosecha, Parte 1" (The Harvest, Part 1) Other *Each regular character is introduced in the order that they appear in the opening titles. *In relation to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer film (non-canon), the episode shares the facts that Buffy is from Los Angeles and have fought vampires there, but contradicts Buffy’s high school year and having burned down the school gym. *Brian Thompson, who plays the vampire Luke, returns to the series in season two as a different character, the Judge, in "Surprise" and "Innocence". *Joss Whedon provided the DVD Commentaries for this episode. *The region 4 DVD case incorrectly titles this episode as "Welcome to Hellmouth". *The book "The Harvest" includes a novelization of this episode. Gallery Promotional stills 1x01 001.jpg 1x01 009.jpg 1x01 010.jpg 1x01 012.jpg 1x01 011.jpg Btvs-episode-stills-buffy-the-vampire-slayer-6055223-1000-1481.jpg Buffy welcome to the hellmouth thomas still.jpg 77302 1210327245521 full.jpg Buffy-1x01-welcome-to-the-hellmouth-stills-gq-02.jpg Buffy-the-vampire-slayer-Season-1-episode-2-the-harvest-television-14236095-1000-1450 still.jpg Hellmouth still.jpg 1x01 006.jpg 1x01 008.jpg Advertisement Welcome to the Hellmouth promo.jpg|“For each generation, there is only one Slayer.” Quotes References External links * * Category:Buffy the Vampire Slayer (season 1) episodes Category:1997 American television episodes Category:American television pilots Category:Television episodes written by Joss Whedon Category:Films directed by Charles Martin Smith Category:Television episodes in multiple parts